It was only a week ago......

at just about this time (1:30 p.m.) that we were enjoying our last meal at Bonny's retreat. It was delicious as all the meals are at Bonny's.

And the table setting was so pretty it looked good enough to eat, too!! Once again, the food was so good that I forgot to take a picture of it. There was Eggs-strada (a bread, egg and ham dish that was soooo yummy), more fresh fruit, some Portuguese bread that was really good and the left-over salads from the day before. And for dessert, we could choose the chocolate mousse or the cobbler. We all agreed we shouldn't need to eat for a week but that didn't happen.
Now, for those of you that think Minnesota is the land of snow and cold, well, this picture shows the sunnyside of Minnesota weather...............

This is the garden at Bonny's and it is lovely. Maybe someday, I'll have one that looks half this good! We always take a group picture...................we have come to Bonny's for seven summers in a row. It's real treat!

There was still time for some more "show 'n tell" and Bonny took time to come and see what we accomplished and projects we brought that we'd done this past year.

Stephanie finished all her blocks for her blue and yellow quilt and placed them on the wall. I told you it was really cool! We said she should do the "Vanna" pose and she complied. :-)

Laura spent most of Saturday working on this awesome paper-pieced snowman wall-hanging. And if you like to paper-piece, then go to here and you can check out the work of Cindi Edgerton and her Very Special Collection Patterns.

Arlis brought her Featherweight to the retreat and worked on blocks for a sampler quilt. She had a number of these done before she arrived but put all of them that are completed up on the wall for us to see. Isn't this going to be a gorgeous quilt!

Sharon spent time working on a Redwork project but brought this sweet little quilt along to show Bonny. Sharon worked on it last summer so Bonny likes to see our progress. ;-)


And Bonny shared some quilt tops that she recently made. She's holding this colorful version and you can see one in Civil War prints on the table. The design is created by sewing charm squares together then cutting a certain way to get the pinwheel blocks. She did a demo for us and I forgot to ask where she got the pattern. I'll have to find out and let you all know.

Collette got so much done on her cross stitch piece that she realized she'll be able to get it finished by Christmas. Plus she got one block done for her 30's quilt that I'm helping her make. I started my blocks the first year I came to Bonny's and that's about the only time I work on 30's print projects. It's become sort of a "tradition". My main goal in coming to Bonny's is to relax and get refreshed and enjoy a weekend of friendship.

So, with that in mind, I got very little finished but I did work on "stages" of projects. I took a turn off the 30's fabrics and made a zippered pouch to go inside a bag that my friend Sue made for me three years ago. And then there are those pincushions in my hand and that's going to be a separate post one day this coming week. :-)

I hope you haven't minded that I chattered on and on about our retreat but blogging is about journaling so that's what this is ......a journal of my weekend retreat at Bonny's. I am so glad I met Bonny as time spent at her retreat has enriched my life in so many ways. We met when she was a student in a penny rug class that I was teaching and she leaned over and asked if I'd consider doing a program for her quilt guild. I said sure and so she invited me to speak and then to spend the night at her home (it was a bit of a drive and the guild held morning meetings). That was when I discovered her gift of hospitality. She had just opened her retreat and so we made our first visit that summer of 2003. We signed up for the same weekend every August for the next ten years! Many others have a similar favorite weekend that they visit Bonny's. She's found her niche for sure and we're all just glad that she did!!

So, that's it for Bonny's Retreat for this year. Had to leave you with one last look at that pretty purple flower. This one was taken after our brunch on Sunday. I am totally enamored with this flower and must have some in my garden when we start planting in the spring. There'll be plenty of time this winter to find it in one of the seed catalogs that come in the mail!

Hope you are enjoying a good Sunday afternoon!

Sandi